#i know theres something about free will that is discussed a lot in the story but

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Im an ace simp unashamedly and i need to share this little detail of heartslabyul's birthday boy card that someone probably mentioned alr somewhere. In all the boys' groovy illustrations theres always someone else with them. Riddle has cater and trey, Trey has cater. Cater has ace and Deuce has someone in the corner (i cant tell who)

EXCEPT ACE???? BRO'S JUST STARING INTO THE CAMERA WITH THAT SILLY LITTLE BLUSH LIKE BRO YOU LOOKING AT ME???? WHAT ARE YOU TRYNNA TELL ME TWST????

cbjsvsjsjcks Where did all the Ace simps suddenly spawn from… I feel like I’ve been meeting a lot of them lately (not necessarily through this blog, but also in other discussion circles) 😂

Yes, the Birthday Boy series tends to generally showcase at least one other character in the Groovies. For Heartslabyul: Cater and Trey appear in Riddle’s, Trey appears in Cater’s, and I believe it’s Ace in Deuce’s.

That isn’t Trey because Trey wears gloves in his dorm uniform, and nor can it be Riddle because his dorm uniform looks entirely different than the standard one. That leaves us with Cater and Ace. By process of elimination and using context clues, it’s most likely Ace. Cater already appeared in two other Birthday Boy Groovies. Additionally, Deuce has a voice line where he says Ace gifted him a jack-in-the-box—and while the Groovy doesn’t depict that item, Deuce is reacting similarly shocked upon opening it. Ace has also explained (I think in a Halloween event or vignette??) that it is possible to pull off a simple trick of flashing lights and sounds using magic. He tends to use his skills for childish things like little pranks and sleights, and has the personality to be inclined towards those things too. All the circumstantial evidence points to Ace.

Anyway, I feel like Ace is one of those characters you commonly see getting shipped with Yuu because of how he is presented in official content (and especially the main story). Him and Malleus seem to be the Big Two on that regard. That’s what my observation has always been, at least.

It’s rare that TWST will put out these “looking directly at you” illustrations, and even when they do, it’s not always aimed at Yuu if you look at the context the vignettes provide. For example, the Jade Outdoor Wear Groovy has him looking back and offering a hand… but it’s not for Yuu, it’s for Cater; Floyd’s Beans Camo Groovy had him looking soft and cute… and that gaze is aimed at Epel while Floyd talks about how he wants to take on strong opponents. Ace’s Birthday Boy Groovy exists in defiance of that pattern!

I think it’s funny that his dynamic with Yuu can so easily feed into that trope of the BFF that’s crushing hard but is too afraid to fully commit, so he always frames advances/flirting/playful teasing as “just jokes” to test the waters. It almost feels like Ace was tailor-made for this 😂 It sets up a lot the potential for something as simple as a look seeming longing. I can definitely understand how someone might see that Groovy and think it’s romantic. I don’t think most people make that kind of expression while using the thumb to brush away crumbs and staring into the camera 💀 Bro would 100% catch you and then go, “I know, I know, I look so cool that you just can’t get enough of me. Well, today’s my special day so I’m feeling extra nice. Feel free to stare at me aaaaaall you like, Prefect.” And then maybe joke that you could have him all to yourself if you asked—

You Ace yumes out there must be thankful for this food www

[riveracheron]

hey guys have my wild magnus protocol theory that stemmed from me just overanalyzing the little bits of content we have

i think lena is a homunculus.

(spoilers for the pilot and jonny + alex’s post pilot discussion under the cut)

basically this stems from. a lot of places w small amounts of information so some of this might be stretches. But

1. a lot of marketing around protocol mentions the theme of “what does it mean to be a person?” which. leads me to believe there’s gonna be a plot around a protag being Not Human but has the heart or whatever the fuck. standard pinnochio or wizard of oz story. sure youre not human but ur a person bc of xyz free will or whatever

2. lena’s behavior in the pilot is So odd and almost inhuman in its extremely dull corporate jargon way. she literally uses things like “you can file a complaint” or “here at the oiar we….” (advertiser shit) , in genuine conversation. she doesn’t leave the building, either and has a Generic office party.

im genuinely thinking bureaucracy and the weird eldritch stuff of the oiar is Literally all she knows, not that shes being manipulative and evil in the trailer like elias; she doesn’t or maybe cannot question the whole. asking sam about the eldritch trauma thing, something something cant understand human emotions and why that might be troubling.

also “people like chocolate cake.” that sounds weird and something someone with only base knowledge of humanity would say.

she’s described as “an odd one” by jonny and that we will “get her soon”. im under the full belief that shes the non-human character of the bunch thatll yknow. have the Real Boy plot

3. homunculus specifically comes from all the alchemy shit around protocol, and homunculi are some of the most famous alchemical creations in popular culture, and i think she’s not. an entity creation. lenas too much of an important character to just be like. tied to An Entity, as a main character extremely tied to the OIAR, that entity would have to be the basis of like the entire plot of protocol; which i doubt theyd do.

the eye is so important to archives because the themes of archives was the consequences of knowledge- the entire plot was engineered around the Eye as the Main Character Entity and the Eye was written to be that in turn, sorta similarly to how Griffindor is the Main Character House (TM) of HP with its themes of bravery. i doooont think the oiar is tied to the stranger or flesh or any other simulacrum creating entities.

all that to say i think lena is a different kind of artificial human, one that’s manmade rather than entity made yknow?

we get glances of the people above her in status, theres mentions of an ephemeral “he” in the pilot, so. heres what i think

the He in question is an alchemist whose in charge of the OIAR (and maybe other branches but lets focus w the oiar). He created Lena the homunculus to be the middle manager of the branch in his stead; “programming” her to be as dull and corporate as possible to keep the employees in line or whatever. something something shes got a plot wrestling with that and her inherent lack of persondom

EDIT: totally forgot this part

adding that the first statement’s plot was about an abomination of corpses given a humanlike shape and coming back wrong which is. exactly what frankenstein’s monster is, and frankenstein’s monster is considered a homunculus.

with the anglerfish’s importance to season 3 of archives i definitely think the Arthur monster will come up again in some form, but maybe instead of Actually being In Podcast maybe its a parallel to the main characters’ story in the same way that many s4 statements were used to give us more information on how jon is working through it all. the zombie statement when he just wakes up comes to mind especially. maybe it’s a hint and echo of what a Character in podcast (lena) is

[ganondoodle]

Oh man I saw your totk issues post and I agree 100%!! Those are all things that have really bothered me about playing totk, and things that made playing it not nearly as fun (the dungeons, the shrines, the building, etc).

Especially the map!! When I tell you I was so disappointed by the maps on totk, I was hoping for something new! It really just feels like a modded botw, not an official sequel.

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the concept of “what if they had sent link to the past instead”? So the surface map would feature huge differences in the land forms and buildings that exist, and we’d get to see more ganon whenever he visits Hyrule, or go out to the desert to see Gerudo town, etc.

If they really wanted no sheika tech, they could also just have it being newly built? And you could introduce the new characters and such, etc etc.

(I also think the past champions are such a missed opportunity? If botw is about grief and loneliness, and finding hope in the hopeless, and Totk is about coming together despite that, it could have been really interesting if Link had gone to the past! They could have used the past setting as an eerie reminder to what Link and Zelda had lost when the Calamity struck!)

THAT BEING SAID: I’m not as familiar with the legend of Zelda lore, and haven’t played totk very much! I wanted to know your thoughts on this because you seem to have a lot of story and game mechanic knowledge that could explain why this could be a bad/good idea!

(Plus, your discussions are always super interesting to read, as is your custom totk lore, so I’d love to know what you think🩷)

I’m sorry if you’ve already answered an ask like this! If that’s the case, feel free to point that out and I’ll go through your ask tag if you have one:) I hope you have a great day!⭐️

Hi!

im glad you enjoy my rants, i often feel like im being overly mean but tbh were else could i just rant as much as my heart desires without getting spammed by annoying people (certainly not on twitter lol)

i have talked alot, and i mean ALOT, about totk and my issues with it, both lore and gameplay wise, i dont claim to be an expert on any, though i am an old zelda fan and aspiring gamedev, i really only talk about what i feel about it, what i think about it, and by all means im biased as hell xD

if you dont know yet, the "ganondoodles rants" tag is where all my rants go, so if you are interested in reading more on my totk thoughts thats the way to search (given tumblrs search in blog works ..)

and to answers your question, i have touched on it briefly, sending link back in time before the shiekah tech existed would have been an easy way to excuse how they jsut got .. rid of it, bc they didnt, it literally didnt exist yet- and for reusing the map- though that argument falls a little flat bc ... they coud have already done that in present totk, like i brought up in one of said rants, things like flooding gerudo desert, collapsing death mountain, drying out zoras domain etc, and changing the location of the main populations would have already done alot without having to redo the map in its entirety;

the little changes to map itself really wouldnt that big of a deal if they didnt also send you to the EXACT same locations AND repeat the SAME LOCATIONS AGAIN but in the underground, like thats a fact i have talked about multiple times bc its so illogical in every way, anywhere theres a settlement on the surface theres a bigger mine below, its so stupid, the shrines conenct to a lightroot, the same, again, you dont need to explore bc theres nothing TO explore (its also extra weird bc theres one below taburasa (tarrey town) which .... link literally build with dumsda (hudson) a few years ago .. unless that got retconned too idk wth do i know anymore honestly- AND it makes the sonau extra weird bc why the hell do they have a bigass mine under every settlement ESPECIALLY UNDER GERUDO TOWN like, that just adds to my suspicions towards them)

anyway, link to the past was the point and yes, it could have solved a few issues (mainly shiekah tech and the whole "story" taking place AGAIN in the past completely disconnected from you the player) i personally am not so much a fan of it, but that mostly comes down to me just not liking time travel, i dont like going back in time, i want to play and do things in the here and now, i want to repair the damages of the calamity, find out its origins, maybe fix that too, i love to learn about past stuff too, but that more in text, no literal flashback (unless done well), i want to connect to the past but it also holds alot of mystery that maybe shouldnt be touched upon, some mysteries and unkowns are much more interesting when left as such, i want to THINK about things and come to conclusions that are logical and makes sense in hindsight even if it wasnt clear at the start, i dont want information and what to think about it told to my face over and over like im stupid

after botw i really didnt care much about the past, maybe about the acient hero who alot of people specualted to be of gerudo origin due to its red hair- which also got a monkeys paw curled bc in totk they do sth with but its so stupid and insulting that i do not accept it as canon, say what they want, there are no dog people anywhere in the past nor present botw/totk wtf is that i hate it- and its not even .. why is that the reward for that, it has literally NOTHING TO DO WITH TOTK ITSELF I COULD YELLLL AAAARGH

main point is that really, i wanted to explore the past .. in the present, i hoped to find broken old shiekah structures, old labs and maybe some left over damage and records from when the old king persecuted the shiekah for their tech, i wanted to know where the ancient energy the shiekah used was coming from, what the boss arena in the middle of hyrule castle really was- so many things just discarded and acted like they never happened or mattered; i dont want to travel into the past, i want to discover whats left of it, piece it together, discover dark secrets you can ask no one about bc all that knew about it are long gone- thats what intrigued me about botw, it felt like there was so much left to discover only for totk to throw it all away and just do its own thing .. but not commit to that hard enough either so its neither its own thing nor a sequel-

.. that wasnt really what you wanted to know was it? xD sorry i tend to ramble on if someone seems to give me permission to

to sum it up, i think it COULD work, sending link to the past instead, if done well, but so could canon totk have been, it could have been done well but wasnt for reasons i dont know and tbh even fear bc i worry its sets a dark future ahead of zelda; i personalyl am just not a fan of time travel so i dont have that much to say to it :O

[coolingrosa]

(Ok i typed more than i meant to feel free to not read if you’d so prefer🩵)

while what you say about the proshipping label is something i somewhat agree with (as in realizing how many people identify the term with certain meaning) i do wish to point out that calling it ‘old fandom usage’ isn’t really accurate…

obviously it’s no one else’s buisness how you choose to define it and this isn’t a hate ask or anything🥰 /genuine

i’m also against comship, (or proship whichever you wish to call) although comshipping would be the correct term for dark ships

it’s also just a little weird to see it said that “no one uses that” when a lot of people do. truly a lot. they simply do not shout it as loudly from what i observe, that section of people are just quieter and keep to themselves more, because of the amount of new fandom people who bulldoze them from what i understand. those people are loudest, and this switch in definitions didn’t happen until the past few years…these people who have used that label for years but suddenly are expected to not because of misinfo that was spread….its a very interesting( and probably unfortunate )phenomenon in fandom spaces!

again you can ignore this i’m sorry if this comes off as annoying, i just am an old lady in fandom spaces and i see a lot of misinfo around fandom talk..

by its definition proshipping means “people can do what they want and it’s my responsibility to block or move on” , it’s moreso a freedom of speech thing, comshipping is when you ship problematic things (although by definition the problematic things are probably defined by the user.)

i don’t like dark ship one bit, but i understand that theres serious repercussions when it comes to censorship,and that i don’t know peoples life stories or who they are as people. it’s media and no one forces me to consume any type of media, and i’m more than happy to block people if i don’t like or agree with it. most of those people also are VERY adamant about blocking them if you don’t like it,from my experience!

anyways again i’m so sorry if this is just an annoying word dump for you, i just thought i should share some perspective since i feel like this is a serious fandom thing, a lot of people get harassed for misunderstanding. i personally don’t like perpetuating labels and definitions that are based on misinformation, but again no one’s allowed to tell you what you have to do and you can just move on and ignore this if you so please🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵/genuine

understanding that a lot of new fandom talk is built on misinfo and being aware of that is a solid take, however i don’t think redefining and people choosing to interpret a textbook definition, a correct one, should be blamed on the person using the correct terminology

again your opinion is yours and personally i respect it 😄😄 absolutely no hate or pressure these sort of discussions simply interest me

also it makes so much sense to use proshippers as a dni buzzword because of how many people are misinformed, i just hate to see it be continued when as a fandom space we all could choose to return to correct definitions and use those

again. using it to avoid the masses is understandable, it’s just unfortunate

i love your art and stories and i’m continually excited to see what you come up with next!!! i hope you have a great day!!! (or night)🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵 and no pressure to answer this i understand that it’s an annoying ask to answer😶

Will say this once, I am very aware of what PRO-SHIPPING used to represent and what the older people in fandoms still use it for. However, that does not change the fact that rhe definition has changed. It just has. Any google search will tell you that. And though I can understand how that can be frustrating for you, I will still be saying dni proshippers and still seeing it as a problematic term due to the fact that’s how it’s primarily used. Its old definition is an old fandom term now. The people who still use it are as you said, from the older fandom times. Meaning that yes, it’s old definition is now inaccurate and also no longer represents what it means and trying to win it back or convince people otherwise won’t work, especially since I am not the one who misconstrued this old definition. I am not one of the new gen proshippers who changed this for you. Your issues would be with them, not me, a random artist who is keeping up with the times and avoiding problematic people from coming onto her page. I am trying to protect my page with the new gen knowledge. Reminiscing on the past in my ask box does nothing as I have no case in the change.

It has changed. It’s frustrating, but there’s nothing to be done. You acknowledge this yourself, and yet still claim it’s misinformation when it’s not. It’s an old term that turned into a new definition. That happens in history multiple times. It doesn’t mean it’s misinformation or wrong. It means that time has changed it and a new generation of people have taken the word, and that happens with the dialect of our world every century. The older proshipping definition, therefore, is old fandom history. And the people who still use it are going by those older rules which STILL equals to old fandom definition. The only people using it go by outdated fandom rules, expectations, and are possibly older. That’s….literally a combo of what makes an outdated and older used definition. And using these definitions knowing full well what the change has done to the word with the defense of “in old fandom times it was different” also makes me have little pity for you as if you’re fully aware and still chose to sport the label, that’s on you. Not saying you do this, just using an example.

Yes we have different opinions. It just makes no sense that you brought this to my askbox when I didn’t ruin the word for you. It’s the new generation proshippers. If you have a problem with it, go speak to them and their community who uses these terminology. I cant do anything?? And if you just wanted a discussion, I’m the last person to have a discussion with as I keep far away from the new community and also can’t speak for them?? This reads more like ur upset bc you use the label and therefore cant interact than an actual discussion, bc if you had a real problem with the change, you would NOT be in MY askbox. And yet you claim ur against proshipping so…it makes no sense

At the end of the day, this fandom deep dive stuff makes my head spin. Why are we defending incest lovers. Why are we trying to find an exact term for these weirdos. It doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things what an old fandom definition means because this is so chronically online bull. Weird ships are weird fucking ships. And those weirdos who make them use proshipping as a label. Therefore, I put them on a dni and block. It’s literally that simple and fandom terminology discourse is so insane to me I’m sorry LMAO. Like I have work in three hours dude I can’t with this 😭💀

[cheylouwho]

i’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and i want to hear someone from SPHS’s thoughts.

i know you’ve noticed the “tiktok” fan base- the ones that only watch clips of the show and then say they’re fans. i read one of your posts talking about these types of fans and making blatantly incorrect headcanons. that’s something that bugs me, but another thing that bugs me is the fact i do not believe south park is tiktokable. i’ll use family guy as a comparison for my points.

first of all, compared to family guy, the humor is different, pretty much everything they explained in the cartoon wars two parter explains what i mean, m&t are not fans of interchangeable jokes and are able to give characters emotional progression throughout the episode. that’s one huge factor, i hope you get what i’m trying to imply with that. m&t are passionate about their story telling and it pays off in their episodes. i know not EVERY SINGLE joke follows this, but there are jokes made better by understanding the characters and the circumstance of the episode. the episodes work best in their entirety. (that was difficult to explain so i fear it can be misinterpreted easily)

the characters are another thing i want to mention. i watched the episode TSST with two friends awhile ago, one of which who had never seen an episode and didn’t understand cartmans character. she kept asking questions about him, or said how weird his hitler obsession was. the other friend hadn’t finished south park and said he hated cartmans character and it’s hes one of the bad pieces of the show. i believe even if you don’t like cartman as a personal preference thing, you should at least appreciate him as a character and his placement, it’s hard to understand him (despite us watching an episode that really dives into him, they still didn’t know much about him before). with family guy, one episode is enough to grasp the character, hell, even a single scene is i’d say, while m&t are very good at developing and fleshing out character personalities over time. it’s why they can pull off making sad episodes (like kenny dies and assburgers), heartwarming episodes (like tweek x craig and even bits of episodes like in raisins) all while still being a comedy show. they understand how to make the characters react in a way that can make you feel something while maintaining a good amount of jokes in the episode.

i dont know, theres more i could add but i’m just writing whatever comes to mind first so it might make no sense or it might be wrong. also, i’m by no means an old fan. i’ve rewatched the series quite a few times, watched commentaries, researched through wiki pages and am constantly trying to better my knowledge of the show, but i know i’m not quite there yet and could just be making a mistake GAHAH

No anon, I actually totally get this and agree 100%. SP as a show is not something that works well with out of context clips (and even then, the ones that do work are usually from very early in an episode before the plot fully gets established and stakes as drawn). Until pre s18 when they started soft continuity (and then s19-21s full continuity, after that is a whole other discussion entirely), the shows syndicated nature did make it easier to hop into any episode and watch it in its entirety and enjoy it without much prior knowledge of the show or it's characters. However, even then, you really needed to watch the *whole* episode to get the big picture of it's message.

And I get it, SP full length episodes are not as accessible as they once were. People these days don't know how or aren't willing to pirate things if they don't have the streaming service SP is hosted on, and beyond that, south park used to be free to watch on their website. Like, that's how I ended up catching up on the show when I finally decided to take it all in other than a handful of episodes and scenes I'd seen during my childhood back in 2013. It was all entirely available (save for Super Best Friends, 200 and 201, which I had to go track down on other websites) for free, with ads unless you used an ad blocker, right at your fingertips. And that's how M+T wanted SP to be consumed, because they explicitly noted that they didn't care about making money on streamed episodes, they cared about getting their show out there. (I will have to go find that interview, I know it's somewhere).

But still, regardless of that, you're right. SP is not something that you can consume short form as a brief tiktok video, and that's why I think we have newer fans with such big gaps in knowledge that seem like they would be easy to fill in. It's not that they're being willfully ignorant, they're just being fed a very piecemeal version of the show through social media, which is how we get people thinking Pip is a he//llpa//rk OC (augh!!! dont get me started) instead of realizing this dude was actually in the fucking show, or headcanons that are very easy to contradict with canon itself by watching like 3 episodes. That's not me knocking HCs btw, go wild and do whatever you want, but these people don't even know it's ooc, and that's a little troublesome. I've made some outlandish character decisions in the past but I at least KNEW they were not evidence based.

What that means for the fandom down the road I don't know, and its made a lot of discussion and analysis more shallow-- it's so hard outside of my SPHS friend group to find good breakdowns these days. I'm hoping maybe something will change, but who knows.

TLDR fuck tiktok and its watering down of media

[warpweighted]

midnight mass is hggggnsndnd. hfmsnd. everyone watch the Biz Barclay video "the art of religious interpretation (midnight mass vs. God's not dead)" bc frankly they put it way better than I can but there is a reason, okay, there is a reason that I the Known Not-Crier will weep for minimum thirty minutes every single fucking time I watch episode seven and its gonna involve kinda a lot of my #exchristianbaggage so

anyways Lutherans do confirmation training (sunday school classes for induction as a full member of the church) around ages 12-13 which is frankly too young but whatever. whatevsies. you go through the greatest hits and discuss what they actually mean. what does it mean to commit adultery? let the Adultery Tango (someday I will find that youtube video I swear) and also the chewed up piece of gum metaphor tell you. you learn about the protestant reformation and you scrapbook Genesis and you spend a sunday morning on Abraham and Isaac.

and like. if there is any proof positive that under Christianity free will is not actually a thing and that Christian morality is utterly arbitrary it is the predominant Christian interpretation of that story. either Abraham chose wrong when he obeyed God's commandment to kill his son (not the predominant Christian interpretation), or personal accountability does not matter and murdering your beloved child is right because God told you to do it.

and dont give me the "god would never make you kill your child, look he sent a ram up as a sacrifice instead and stopped him at the last moment" shit. I do not accept that it's about trusting that God always has a plan or whatever. because God didnt make Abraham kill his son, but God made Abraham choose to kill his son. God made Abraham tie Isaac down and hold a knife to his throat. God made Abraham do something horrible in His name, and lo it was righteous.

theres a destiel fanfiction (I'm sorry) where Cas says that, after the mountain, Isaac always flinched from his father. and theres a confirmation class Lego comic strip where the last panel is Abraham and Isaac descending the mountain, and Isaac is looking at his father in sort of shell-shocked horror. my teacher liked that panel a lot, but not enough to change the way she taught us that story.

that panel stuck with me, even though at twelve I didnt know how to poke at the cognitive dissonance. it didnt unravel my faith, but its fundamental to why I'm never going back. what do you do if God is wrong?

[krisseratops]

Hi! How about A9, B9 and C6? Oh, and D10!

Hiiii hon! Alright lets see...

A9. Who was your first ship?

The earliest ship I remember that I got actually invested in is Reaper76 from Overwatch. I mean, traumatized old gay men who like to shoot at each other and have a HistoryTM? It covers all the basics for me. Also this ship is what made me find AO3, so it kinda introduced me to fandom as a whole and is therefore technically responsible for all the madness that came after it.

B9. Who is your OTP?

You know, I was going to say this is a hard question because I have so many pairings I like in several fandoms and I dont really pick favorites because I like different aspects about them and also Im indecisive. And then I remembered Symbrock. And nothing really comes near the level of absolutely messy devotion of (comics!)Symbrock. So yeah.

C6. Is there anything in canon that made you want to quit the show? What was it? Why do you hate it?

Oh boy, here we go... So not a show, but allllll the shit Cates did with absolute garbage & co and what came after essentially made me quit venom comics and comics in general. Do I even need to explain myself? Like I was keeping up with Venom and also Spider-man and some others because it was fun and enjoyable. And then came the egregious retconning, inconsistencies, character butchering (both how they were written but also literally), characters dying and coming back and dying again and coming back again and fucking gods apparently and how every single issue was The Most Shocking And Dramatic Things The Characters Have Ever Been Through and everything is just edgy and grimdark and angsty and so fucking STUPID and it was just. It wasnt fun or enjoyable anymore, only exhausting and frustrating and sad. And not sad like a sad story makes you feel, but sad like watching something you care about irreparably crash and burn in real time without being able to do anything about it and knowing you can never have it back the way it was (which there is enough of IRL). So I powered through until king in black where I just said "reading this bullshit is draining and depressing and doesnt bring me anything, its not worth it anymore so fuck it" and just stopped. And with my main reason for reading comics gone I ditched marvel comics altogether because lets be honest keeping up with all the different stories and timelines and crossovers and whatnot is exhausting cuz theres just so damn much going on all the time. And why torment yourself with shitty canon when you can have wonderful fanfics tailored to your specific tastes all for free? So I quit comics, read fics instead, got into some new fandoms, indulged my hc and have ever since been living blissfully unaware of the burning dumpster fire (derogatory) that is canon. I only see glimpses of it when it crosses my dash, which I use for cherrypicking for my hc and aggressively ignore the rest.

D10. What is one story idea you really want to read but no one has written yet?

I have a whole lot of story ideas I really want to read (my hcs) that no one has written yet (that would be cuz of me not writing them). But for real, I would love more stories with symbiote & spider-people shenanigans. Like there was this one comic of Peter, Miles and Gwen meeting Venom and fighting Doc Ock toghether and they were kinda buddies? More stuff like that, that has spider/symbiote interaction besides them just trying to kill each other. Maybe it exists and I just havent found it. But like, Venom in spiderverse, they have to team up with the spider gang and they kinda get along because he doesnt have any personal beef with them. He will absolutely recite and discuss Shakespear with that medieval spiderman, be enamored with little Mayday, and be nothing but gentlemanly toward spider ma'am. The other spiders find that "yeah he is freaky and has some dubious morals but isnt actually just an evil monster, he just doesnt like you Peter". The Peter in question does not like it one bit. Him and Venom (barely) tolerate each other, as they always do when they team up, but are constantly petty and passive aggressive towards each other in a funny way, bickering like an old married couple. Because of the nature of their history they also know stuff about each other and will casually drop highly personal details about the other that makes the other spiders go "👀 you sure he's your enemy and not just your ex?". Which Peter likes even less. Other story ideas i desperately need is ANYTHING WITH ANTI-VENOM HOLY SHIT WHERE IS MY BABY!?!?!?! I need stories that let him be a silly dumbass and a pathetic wet beast and occasionally getting railed that dont just exist in my head. But the amount of content on him is just dismal. I often feel like the sole inhabitant of the ghost town that is the Anti-Venom fandom. I've come across one (1) quality fic that portrays him properly (thank you @kitausuret for your invaluable service) and good art is hard to come by compared to other characters. And I realize that if I want more art of him and an Anti-Venom x Agent Venom arch-enemies-to-reluctant-allies-to-even-more-reluctant-friends-to-how-the-hell-did-this-happen excruciating slow burn, I will probably have to do it myself, which hghgnghgnhhh will take forever, but oh well.

Well, this sorta turned into an essay that turned into an impromptu vent post. Hope thats okay and you got your answers!

[molluskmirage]

going to talk about some personal qualms about role play in general with Minecraft as the backdrop. If thats not your jam, you understandably disagree or have your own opinions, well, this discussion is for me to organize my own thoughts on it so you can either disregard this post entirely or view it as a spectacle for your own gain, or whatever the case… I shall dive in now.

Qsmp is my first heavy role play server and I have to say in general I really despise role play. However in trying to state what I dislike theres a lot of things to it, somethings that are technically role-play that I do enjoy verses that which I dont.

there is what I will call ‘natural roleplay’ that occurs in a natural sense. Characters aren’t necessarily ‘really’ in the situation but they play into it by the feed back or for the fun of it. This is something that happens in real life, it particularly happens in areas of high stress as a playful way to navigate or center people in a chaotic world. An example of this (there are many examples in the life series but im going to choose for this ) the clockers from limited life. Now they weren’t really a ‘family’ but they played into being a family because it was funny because it bonded them while dealing with the high stress parameters of the server. Which leads me to my next set of role play which I adore which I'm going to call ‘elements’.

Now elements are any set of rules/mechanics that is what gaming is. There are stakes, ways to win and lose and actions and reactions can seamlessly flow into natural role play. Theres a genuineness to it as you play that your outcome is determined by your merit, skill, wit, charisma, luck, your agency. Because it is so genuine life itself sets the stage on wether you are smart or ignorant, abled or disabled, skilled or unskilled. Life sets the ‘uncontrollables’ while you the player navigate the stage props that are ‘elements’ decided by the host.

Those two example’s of role play are what I can enjoy now for role play I really cant stomach. Now I was an actor for 2 decades before falling ill, I can very much enjoy scripted work however ‘scripted role play’ is my absolute beloathed. For me it falls into the uncanny valley of storytelling and I just hate it. If there is the parameters of everything being a dream I can do it, but with out that statement my pleasure in said material plummets to the ground. Reason being is that the content is rife with contradictions and stakes that are set to whoever's controlling the stories whimsy which can completely assassinate characters to fit to these ideals. I think in part I really hate this because I have a language disability that while making language difficult for me I became hyper attuned to things like lying. There are pitches and inflections that come about from lying and not lying and very very few people can act appropriately when they need to for the story they are weaving which is unsettling for me to many degrees. And very often I know the ‘twist’ the creator has set up too far in advance. There is also the issue for me that when in choosing options for yourself its too absurd degrees because the ‘sky’ is the limit, however thats not really the case because most people write the same story over and over, either being a cartoonish hero or cartoonish villain that’s reminiscent of playing pretend with 4 year olds (and then my laser shoots you, ah! But I survive because I have a nuclear blaster and I shoot you-etc.)

all that to say I find it boring and tired. Now completely confined scripted works means that the author has set stakes for the characters and they can act and react accordingly (results depending upon an author’s skill varies) but characters tend to make sense and because no person is behind each character individually characters are free to be flawed without it being silly and free to consequences without it trying to be stopped because the difference between a play and role play is that people in a play are trying to tell A story while role-players are each telling Their story. With so many tellers it can become the adage ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ for me.

so thats the general outline of what Id like to discuss now for the applied principles in regards to the qsmp itself.

I have stayed enjoying as long as I have for the qsmp because there are a lot of elements and natural rp within it, which is and has been expertly crafted by Quackity himself. The eggs are an example of elements (they are vulnerable having two lives and if they die they are cast out from the series) and natural role play (we’ll use charlie here as he is the most extreme in his rp) while Charlie may act reckless for a fun gimmick of natural role play because the elements are real the effects from losing a character from his behavior, his actions leads his character to handle grief and remorse. while he does do this as a ‘character’ there are genuine feelings that he allows to lead his natural role play, ‘going to kill all the other eggs’ in grief while would be extreme behavior for real life and is a larger then life sort of sentiment it is still a real sentiment. This behavior can be exhibited time and time again for humans in the ‘if I cant have happiness neither can you’.

now it is certainly risky setting up an element in which you both need to care for and can lose a player because while the highs of those elements are incredible the lows are extreme and you end up losing more then the players that died to elements, you lose all that were attached to them as the emotions are too strong and too real to navigate for most individuals. The brilliance of the eggs though is that there simplicity and needs are understandable across language barriers and because they act as children they also provide access for language learners to start their journey as well, as players that interact with them will speak more simply and delicately giving nursery rhymes and explaining concepts that allow for beginner language learners an easier introduction to the language. There is a lot of reason and success in the qsmp that’s absolutely brilliant full stop.

For the things that make me cringe or fall apart are the more ‘scripted rp’ aspects. I think q!quackity suffers from this most acutely. I really wish quackity had set himself up as a villain/more admin character from the jump. He as a creator knows too much and its hard to watch him play ignorant and angsty when he feels so detached and displaced story wise. My biggest problems with the server are the overall mechanics and world building. I think there is a solid interesting story there but it can only be accessed when the heavens deem it so and respectfully it sucks so much to me.

‘find luffy’ ‘find the eggs’ the admins playing those characters aren’t physically on the server there is no way to find them, which we the audience, and the content creators know but how can they act out as they would ‘naturally’ when there goal is physically unattainable, you cant, which then when mixing the fandom into it they extrapolate and make strange character dives ‘no ones looking for quackity’ ‘no ones looking for roier’ there’s literally nothing players can do to find them so of course theyre not looking but suddenly it’s angst and ‘these poor characters no one cares from them’, like I said uncanny valley of storytelling I don’t like.

I did understand right from the get go this would be an issue as the set up of being trapped on the island, being the minecraft server itself, was a very peculiar plot device as it serves basically the opposite of what you would want for your players. ‘You cant leave the island!’ Uh what if they dont log in? Theyve escaped, there free! had there been an actual island in game that if they tried to escape from there could be consequences ( while perhaps difficult to dm/manage (though you could make some cool commands/effects that could do a lot for you) I think story wise this narrative could have been soo much more compelling and not just players having to willingly submit themselves to torture while saying they dont want the torture and to be free for the plots sake.

just putting this out here too but Ive hated Dapper’s kidnappings so much. He is probably hands down my favorite character and the amount of character assainations they have had to jump through for ✨plot✨🙄. I can understand the motivation for kidnapping Dapper as his Father is highly contested and Dapper is a vulnerable point for Bad but I really need characters to put in the effort like Charlie did. that was entertaining and intense and every character involved got a great dramatic story. Any other time when he’s been ‘magically’ obtained it feels like a filler episode to me and my eyesroll into the back of my skull.

another point about scripted rp is that the further it goes the more effort put in and the less time you play because it would mess up story continuity and in general just because a pile of angst plots, I just dont find appealing, and I know the creators put in a lot of work (that deserves praise) and there are very clearly people that really appreciate that content and absolutely great for them, happy their getting content they enjoy but for me it’s lackluster.

to the point of ‘well if you dont like it then dont watch’ as stated there are plenty of things I like about qsmp but also I try to watch things I don’t understand and don’t enjoy at times as research to learn what others enjoy and see in it to further my own understanding and compassion. I may never like it fully but if I can understand why others do I can better support and encourage there interests and I very much like that, people are great and its nice to share thoughts and feelings. because I do have what I feel is more outsider/anti? views in general on this subject then most of the fandom Ive felt the need to compile some thoughts from my perspective of it, now done I think I’ll go back to hibernating until a next thought.

[goodfully]

im about halfway through "the story of a new name" now, and theres certainly so much to it that im thinking about in my head (this books touches a lot more on gender roles, class relations, and war/revolution than the first book, understandably, and the friendship between elena and lila more tense and fragile). but i think the things that keeps coming back to mind is the crazy intro (/pos) and the relationship between elena, lila, and nino.

okay the intro... it wasnt actually real, but the imagery of lila just ripping the arms off and gouging out the eyes of all the men who had wronged them, and in the midst of all that blood and horror, the two of them are holding hands and sharing their rage, finally escaping the world theyre trapped in. "if nothing could save us, not money, not a male body, and not even studying, we might as well destroy everything immediately." god, what the hell!!!! theres just so much violence everywhere, built up within them, esp lila at that moment in the wedding. ahhhh, how badly elena wished it to happen, knowing lila had the capacity for such force, for both herself and lila alone to be free.

at the place im currently at in the book, the trio held hands and ran into the sea. it seems to me the happiest the three of them have gotten to be... theres certainly a lot to say about the dynamic of each pair in the trio, and when the three of them are sitting with each other discussing something serious, it can be pressuring (and painful for them even), the way they all seem to want to show their best to each other yet also hoping to understand more from each other. however when together the three of them all let go and just have fun in the ocean, holding hands and wrapping each others arms across the others shoulders like the kids they still are.. not needing to remember the life outside of that. its.. ahhh

[gaygayaurel]

What happens to the mf when he listens to DT videos in BG

I truly hope that player is a shitheel deltarune thing isnt really really the end theme because as interesting as it is the best solution is to not play the game at all and personally i would very much like if the gane told me how to co-live with it (undertale) rather than wholesale condemn my presence while ironically demanding me to play it to exist. Now it does make an interesting question of how nuch do you pay for experience how much are you willing to hurt to get out most of the game etc. Was it right of yourself to impose your will on Frisk even if it lead to the "correct conclusion?" It would make sense and there would be a lot of definitely cool questions - it would be like Pathological which is player hostile to drive home the point of the misery oof the situation.

Somethinf about Deltarune and its One Ending thing also makes me think about uh i dunno what is the proper name, but walking simulators. You dont do anything but go on and try to piece together pieces of story which is tide enviromentally to yo. Now of course, DT is classic RPG through and through but the while one ending (but it matters what you discover and experience) would shed a lot of light on the situation. Why do we play games that give us no agency, where we cant change anything (and to tie to my earlier paragraph, why do we insist on our presence muddling the story that plays out to the same conclusion?) Is weird route our struggle against fate and doing monstrous things to break out and prepare (in vain)?

It reminds me of discussions around the game where you drop a bomb and people are really mad you did it because well the game didnt give you a choice otherwise. But to me it made perfect sense. It is common in visual novels to block r or force a choice on certain routes. Now I never played the soldier game so I cant tell how effectively it does choices. But to me forcing a soldier to fire a bomv is poignant - what else could he do? Agaib i dont know the details, maybe it was done in a shoddy way and other places in the game had choices or people felt like it wad heavyhanded. Would it have been better if you chose not to fire but got shot for it like instantly? I think abt it because like if the best is to not drop the bomb then the best thing is to not play the game. Just like in Deltarune.

Did I seriously talk myself out of. My first gut position? Yea because I am a pussy and I dont want to hurt anyone even if that someone is a story and I dont eant to be judged as bad person by a narrative. I am sort of a person who meticilously plan out their Mass Effect 2 or Witcher 3 run to get exactly what I want. Games like DT are freeing but also terrifying in a way. And deltarune world is so nice and detailed and full of life and interesting facts and its just so nice to talk to people and go on adventure and wait a fuckimg minute

Deltarune is just like a Dark world in a sense. We dip in we get to control a cooler avatar we get a ton of cool characters we want to meet or see their lives deleted. We try and figure out the best course for it and we try to find all the secrets. The dark world represents escapism but also noteable gamification FOR the beloved Lightners but their world is already GAMIFIED TO US. Theres almost game inside the game feel to it all.

Of course noone in the gane takes over Established People's Life so the point could be moot. They remain themselves. And its interesting they dont have the choice to kill or anything, unless YOU the outside influenfce intervene in gamebreaking way. Someone who sees both layers as a game forces the thought in (weird route). But they still have larger influence and disrupt the gane world they enter just like you do, and yet are limited to seemingly one path just luke you are.

Or something. I am just excited to see what Toby does, I love his games so far they are very charming this is very half hearted rambling.

[wasteofart]

Okay but I've just been listening to For Forever from DEH like one does on a gloomy Sunday and, I've been saying this for ages, but this song isn't about how Evan imagines the two of them being friends. It's about him expressing his suicidal thoughts. (long explanation after the cut) 

I know it sounds far fetched but hear me out.

The events he talks about in this song are obviously made up and not real. He never had friends he could casually hang out with and we know that the story he tells about his “fall” isn’t true either. 

Which tells us he’s picturing a perfect day, the ideal way he would like to spend his time. Grabbing some ice cream and going on a ride sounds ideal to him, something he wouldn’t do in real life since he doesn’t drive and Jared, who usually drives him places, definitely wouldn’t go eat ice cream with him. 

So the song starts with:

End of May or early June

This picture-perfect afternoon we share

Drive the winding country road

Grab a scoop at À La Mode

And then we're there

The song continues with: 

An open field that's framed with trees

We pick a spot and shoot the breeze

Like buddies do

Quoting songs by our favorite bands

Telling jokes no one understands

Except us two

And we talk and take in the view

Also something that is far from how his reality looks. He rarely ever gets to “shoot the breeze” with anyone, let alone have a normal conversation. In his fantasy he does’t suffer from anxiety that sabotages his ability to actually have nice talks with people. He sings about buddies and bonding with someone, having inside jokes, hinting that he’s never been so close to anyone who understanda him and his problems to actually talk free around them. Even with his mom, he constantly worries about saying the wrong thing. The open field seems like a free place that is still secured by trees around them. To him, two things that he never gets to experience. 

We walk a while and talk about

The things we'll do when we get out of school

Bike the Appalachian trail or

Write a book or learn to sail

Wouldn't that be cool?

Again, things Evan would love to do but actually can’t because of his anxiety and lack of social contacts. 

Now this part gets tricky:

There's nothing that we can't discuss

Like girls we wish would notice us but never do

He looks around and says to me

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be"

And I say, "Me too"

And we talk and take in the view

We just talk and take in the view

First, he talks about girls, once again a topic he was never able to talk about in real life. Something he also didn’t experience yet besides his crush on Zoe. He fantasizes about being able to be so close to someone he would actually admit having a crush to, someone who wouldn’t ever judge him. 

Then he directly talks about Connor, saying “Theres’s nowhere else I’d rather be” continued by his “Me too”. Considering that he knows this story never took place and that he is well aware that Connor is dead, it sparks the question of what this “place” might be that these two talk about. For Evan it surely means his made up fantasy world, something he knows he likely won’t experience any time soon. But for Connor? Why would Connor enjoy Evan’s fantasy world? Surely not because they are such great friends and love being out in nature. 

This brings us to the chorus: 

All we see is sky for forever

We let the world pass by for forever

Feels like we could go on for forever this way, this way

All we see is light for forever

'Cause the sun shines bright for forever

Like we'll be alright for forever this way

Two friends on a perfect day

The way Evan describes this place, the whole situation and his desires sound a lot like a place after death to me. He mentions the sky, bright light and a place where he is alright forever, clearly hinting at a heaven-like place. A place where he can spend time with his best friend in total peace, or in this case Connor who he knows is already dead. But Evan is not dead, he’s right there, talking to the Murphys which we are then reminded of. 

The song continues with a change in speed:

And there he goes

Racing toward the tallest tree

From far across the yellow field I hear him calling, "Follow me" There we go

Wondering how the world might look from up so high

Evan talks about Connor and how he is eager to race ahead, to get to that high tree that brings them up and high into the sky. He even mentions Connor telling Evan to “follow” him, which could even hint at Evan’s wish to follow Connor into death, to the peaceful place where he can be free of his painful existence. The faster pace shows how eager he was in that moment, how tired he is of his misery.

One foot after the other

One branch then to another

I climb higher and higher

I climb 'til the entire

Sun shines on my face

At this point he has switched from his perfect day to the day he climbed that tree. A story we hear dozens of times during the play. He tells us step by step how he tried to get closer to that sunlight, a topic he sings about multiple times throughout the show. In “Waving through a window”  he sings about not knowing how to step into the light because it hurts still and in the end during “Words fail” he still asks how to step out into the sun. The light and warmth of the sun have always represented Evan’s place of comfort, a place where he doesn’t have to worry or is ill. And while it can be seen as a place where he is healed from his illness, it can also mean a place that simply relieves him of his pain. 

And I suddenly feel the branch give way

I'm on the ground

My arm goes numb

I look around

And I see him come to get me

He's come to get me

And everything's okay

We learn during the play that Evan had tried to take his own life climbing that tree. Something he was painfully reminded of every time he looked at his broken arm. Another thing he couldn’t do that he now had to bare the consequences of. In reality he fell and broke his arm before he had to go to the hospital all by himself (or with his boss) after lying on the ground for a while. In this moment he was all alone, a feeling that made him jump in the first place. But in his story, in his ideal fantasy, he isn’t alone. He is there with Connor and while he still fell and broke his arm, he isn’t alone. Connor came to get him because he couldn’t “follow” him into the sky. In Evan’s fantasy he didn’t just fall and break his arm, in his fantasy he died just like Connor did. But for him this death isn’t a bad thing, he says that “everything’s okay” because he would be in this perfect world with a friend, free of his anxiety.

All we see is sky for forever

We let the world pass by for forever

Buddy, you and I for forever this way, this way

All we see is light

'Cause the sun burns bright

We could be alright for forever this way

Two friends

True friends

On a perfect day

In the end he once again mentions that they are feeling content like that for forever, they are happy and at ease forever. The world passes by, not affecting them at all because they no longer are in this world. Or at least that’s what Evan was wishing for. Once again he says they “could be alright [...] this way”, meaning he isn’t alright the way he is but he would be alright if the day had been “perfect” and everything would’ve gone the way he had intended. Namely not just falling and breaking his arm but actually ending his life.

I think a lot of people overlook how severe Evan’s issues really are, how deeply hurt he was. Eitherway, listening to the song with this in mind, that Evan isn’t just singing to the Murphys about the fun he and Connor allegedly had but how he wishes he had died that day as well makes it so much more heartbreaking. 

[cupcraft]

hi cup. you’re a trusted tumblr user to me so I’m asking. did something happen with dream? Like was he suddenly proven innocent? I thought he already admitted sharing messages with fans but now I see no one talking about it and Tommy replying to him still and I just don’t get it. Am I missing something?

well i suppose i cant speak for everyone and theres a lot conversation to be had about this. so i'll state my experiences what i think, but just know its from my pov. Dream was not "suddenly proven innocent". From my experience there's many groups of people in fandom and then there's the ccs that are his friends to discuss ig.

like a lot of people on tumblr at least are still talking about it, just not as frequently bc at least for me i talked about it so much and argued in my inbox so much i burnt myself out completely and it is a very triggering topic esp seeing all the victim blaming rhetoric/detective work. Some people havent really talked about it because of the triggering nature and that's a okay. There are some people who "waited it out" and now are posting dteam content again like nothing happened both those that were "neutral" and those who didnt believe those that came forward.

And currently no cc really has talked about the situation in any capacity other than aimsey and their friend who is a cc liking a few potentially related tweets, ro ramdin in her video essay, and connor mentioning it once on stream when a chatter brought it up, and karl making a face and turning off voice notifs after a chatter brought it up. I'd like to believe tommy and other cc's don't know the full story but i'm not sure at this point and i feel uncomfortable speculating about it bc it does make me deeply uncomfortable not one word has been said and he's still being platformed by cc's and fans alike as if nothing's happened despite him admitting to the dm's.

idk if this helps you anon but thats all i got :(!

(feel free to add on/correct me always <3)

[dribs-and-drabbles]

I need to add your tags here too Julian because you continued to say fantastic things...

#nothing will ever be or beat bad buddy in terms of. anything really lets be honest #but literally it is so special that new shows are able to do the things they do without it really being a big deal #like i just remember being there! as bb was airing and i remember how fucking sick the ep12 preview all made us #i remember how on the fence we all were abt ink being introduced #i remember the 'itll never happen but i wish' jokes about inkpa!! #i remember all the theories that korn or ming were homophobic...all of us just waiting for the rug to be torn out from under us #and every step bb said no we're not gonna do that to you. because we get it. #and its only been a year but i would NOT BE ENJOYING MSP THIS MUCH #if bad buddy hadnt set the stage #this is not a comparison or saying one is better than the other this is Literally #just an observation of the way the industry is changing right before our eyes #and plenty of ppl have brought the eclipse into the discussion which is So True #but i think theres so much merit to be found by discussing THESE two as romcoms #its just fascinating to me!!!! idk if i said it all right but. yeah!!!

Yes, YES! to all this Julian. Bad Buddy walked so that we could all run headlong into MSP without fear of being done dirty. This show is such a joy to watch and part of that joy comes from trusting that we are being given the show that we want to see. I've seen some other people making reminders that 2Gether 'came first' and also paved the way for MSP - and yes that's true, and there was A LOT that we didn't get from 2Gether that BBS (and others) rectified - but there was something really special about BBS that did a hell of a lot more with the development of this genre which is now enabling us to watch MSP in the way that we are - safe and free from anxiety.

It's in the complexity of the story. How the elements of the story get woven so dextrously into each episode's mini-story arch. And how the story and the characters make huge developments within each episode and it never feels rushed. It's in the balance between poignancy and COMEDY, and the timing and pacing (as Julian already mentioned). It's how we get the two main characters revealing their feelings for each other half-way through the series but it doesn't feel like an ending but just the start of something more...how we then get to witness their love and friendship and courtship and all the wonderful things that come with a new relationship, like the lingering looks and the butterflies in the stomach, right alongside them and for so long. Like BBS, we're going to get to see Tinn and Gun grow and support each other through the difficulties they're going to face in the next 6 eps. And that still feels so refreshing in this BL world but that's what BBS showed the rest of the industry - the potential for the the love interests to not wait until the last ep to finally get together, and instead of all the frustrating obstacles the characters could keep having to face in confessing to their crush, we actually get to see how they manage the changing dynamics of their relationship after the confession moment.

BBS subverted so many freaking tropes and showed what could be done instead, so now we can watch MSP without fear. And part of that trust comes with all the connections in the production team to BBS...after all why would Toto do any of those tired tropes when they were so expertly demolished in BBS?! And damn right the show has so many references to Bad Buddy - it's like the proud younger brother going 'look Phi! We learnt from you and we're trying to do even better'. And you know what, they are. This is a wonderfully neatly packaged BL - it's too early to say whether I will ever be able to consider it 'better' than BBS (because that show owns my whole heart) - but it's EXCELLENT not because of its cute nods to BBS but because it's just FANTASTIC in it's own right...and as much as people might be getting fed up of us always talking about BBS we have to acknowledge the ground-breaking work it did which has led to MSP being this fantastic.

do people understand that we couldnt have anything that weve gotten in msp if bad buddy hadnt come first.

and i dont just mean all the callbacks and references to it - or even the fact that half the cast and the director were involved in bb somewhat (ntm p'aof producing hi king) - which is all wonderful,

but i mean the comedy balancing perfectly with darker emotional moments - the way the tone changes never throw the audience off.

the casual yet clear signs of physical attraction shown as no big deal, as parts of funny moments or delightful moments rather than panic and awe, between two main characters where there again is no clear line separating them into stereotypical masculine or feminine traits.

the PACING!! THE PACING! so much is accomplished in every episode, it feels like a new dynamic between the characters with each one and each reveal. it's gradual and takes its time and is even predictable on occassion but it's not slow - and it keeps you hooked with good writing and stellar performances. even the product placements feel natural again - the tropes used feel fresh rather than overdone...

and let's talk about the way this is a story that also seems to know that it's a bl, and (so far) also hasn't shown a speck of homophobia. there's such a meta message to be found in these portrayals, like this is what the world could be like, this is the world as we experience it or how we wish we could.

and it makes me feel SAFE. and that's because! of! bad buddy!

its just the most incredible thing to me that i can watch things take place in a story and not worry about them. rather just enjoy them and feel what the story is trying to make me feel. like for example in ep6 tiw suggested sound might be into gun and not only was that disproven that episode, i actually forgot it'd even happened bc it was never brought up again. the miscommunication had nothing to do with jealousy and everything to do with hesitancy, which felt so much more true to real life and was honestly really lovely to watch!!!

like bad buddy, new episodes of msp have set up and resolved a different conflict each time - but without bad buddy i would not have been able to watch that ep without waiting for the shoe to drop. because i was on edge the first time thru bb, waiting to be proven wrong, waiting for the drama to start, and if you weren't there, as a previous bl watcher experiencing that feeling of holding your breath....it's just so hard to explain.

the fact of the matter is that bb showed me bl stories could do better.......and my school president is continuing to be better. it's just proving to be a very special show

[shamanofthewilds]

Hey im going back to my roots of why I like all this stuff and talking in length about clan identity and this is so long but I Don’t Care. This is better than twitter because I can just write. It’s a lot but if you like orcs and the love of their culture feel free to dive into just my stream of conciousness lol.

-----

Whenever I write orc characters, unless I have a narrative purpose (and I haven’t so far), I will never remove the importance of their heritage from their person. (And I’m only talking about our history, not alternate universe).

I notice a lot times with orc characters I see a varying ways of how people interact with their clan heritage. There are some great stories I’ve seen where, for them, this makes sense (to not want to associate with a clan identity). But there are others where I can sort of tell maybe there isn’t really a grasp of how I truly feel clan heritage would (or should) be talked about.

Theres this idea that the clans don’t exist anymore, and that none of that really matters anymore. I will say, I think it’s totally valid of a mindset for a single character to have as a person, for whatever reason. For example, an orc who was born on Azeroth, especially the human camps, their connection culture will be different than one who is older, a Frostwolf, Warsong or someone from Garadar. You could also justify someone who became disgusted at what happened , that the connection is tainted. And they can’t dress or feel that way anymore. But this is an entirely personal character view point. I think it’s a great one for an individual struggling with identity of what they did or didn’t get to experience. Because if that is the case, that should be an active part of of your character. The constant struggle of wondering how much you should lean into knowing what you are, or bothering finding out at all. There is another angle where there is just a total belief that none of that matters, you don’t care, you don’t think about it, it has no impact.

Again, that is a valid character type. But most of these ideas would be individual, not a wide spread mindset across the entire culture. The entire of the orc people didn’t emerge from freedom and go ‘All of that stuff is not important anymore’. It’s actually very important to remember that all of what happened didn’t happen over hundreds of years, but more like 30 or 40 years. A lot can be devastated in that amount of time, but I don’t think so much so that a whole culture of people would completely throw out who they were and their beliefs. It’s BECAUSE of their new freedom, that it’s stated their traditions returned. The rite of orcish adulthood, their celebrations and their spirituality. But just more so done as among a family structure.

Sure, clans might not be setting up nomadic spots of tents with their symbol, but that doesn’t mean clan identity and heritage doesn’t exist. I think to have that mindset can be pretty damaging, especially if you’re applying that to real people who’s culture might not be doing what they use to do along time ago due to unfortunate circumstances that caused them to halt. I have definitely heard in real life, that certain groups of people “don’t exist” anymore because of it. Or they became too mixed to be real. And let me tell you, as a mixed person, it depresses and angers me. It’s why, really, I love the orc and find their heritage extremely important to be a part of my characters. Because some things don’t make sense to ignore.

I think what is more realistic, and something I wish could be shown, are the orcs picking up what pieces they can and having modern communities of people connected to their background and spirituality. It makes far more sense to me, for people decedent of Shadowmoon Clan, and Shadowmoon Clan elders, to come together to discuss what they use to be and learn from each other. It makes way more sense to me for decedents of Laughing Skull or Bleeding Hollow learn about the brutal conditions their ancestors were raised in that caused them to gain the reputation they did, and then take those teachings to be put toward good modern use. If orcs are practicing traditions again, then they must be communicating with each other, if they’re doing that, then they’re finding their people. If they’re finding their people, they find more and this is how communities of like minds are created. Nothing will ever be like it use to be, but thats what makes it more interesting is to show the realistic evolution of orcs interacting with things they have BACK now.

The return of shaman meant a return to their rightful spiritual religion. It meant a new era of philosophy and belief and conduits for the ancestors. People the orcs can look to for spiritual guidance, something inherently from their culture. If clans were not important to recognize anymore, neither would shaman I believe.

Gotosh is well established into knowing that is fully of this mindset of teaching people their culture and to see that it’s not gone, and that their history and all that led them to where they are is important to know.

My mag’har Kugo’ro had a unique up bringing of being around multiple orcs still living in Nagrand, born from two proud and true Warsong, but also raised along side other orcs who still identitfy with their clan. However they are all far removed from who left , while they still lived with traditions in a more melting pot of a village. His mindset is more of he knows who he is , is proud of it, and wishes to connect -more- with his people.

My newest orc, my ‘priest’, Father Runeflame, is a much different approach now to culture influence. He was fully a shaman on Draenor. An extremely devoted mystic to the cosmos. Shaman in every way of the word and talented in his communication with the beyond. And like every other shaman, he became a warlock and saw his home , that he loved, shrivel up. Once he became a priest..among other things...his founding of his church has a lot of ties to how he USE to live. There is a lot of shamanic influence in his priesthood. A lot of importance of recognizing what happened, of being proud of what he use to do despite being in the Light now. It’s , to him, that balance of dark and light in a clear sense that he went from the moon to the sun. He will always be a proud Shadowmoon, and him having gone through hell and see his fellow shaman be corrupted, doesn’t take away the good. And it doesn’t take away who he is.

I always want their heritage to be influence, and acknowledged, in some form.

So I just find it all rather interesting...and often times...I can tell when it’s not really a narrative thing and maybe the player didn’t want to do orc lore research so they made them a blank slate. Or...that this player might not come from a background where they think  identity or heritage matters in any form, and has no affect on their day to day life.

Thank you for reading this far, stay frosty.

[perriwinklesblog]

I know some people prefer consistent content but I like to take it as it comes and sometimes life happens and other projects need to take priority. 

So right now, I consider this to be a mid season break. Techno going into the prison was like the midseason finale for the Dream Prison Arc and Wilbur and Ranboo’s stuff was like their midseason finale and the Red Banquet where the egg was contained, was a midseason finale and alllllllll the mini episodes we’ve had since there are like specials etc. 

You know, like how in Dr Who you can go a few years without a solid season but get a special at Christmas and New Year? You know like that. 

So like all other programs, stories, videos I watch, I am coming up with ways in which the next bit could go. Some are a bit out there and definitely not happening, others I could see happening. 

This is long and pointless and full or errors both grammatically and spelling wise but I had fun thinking of what could happen next. Read if you want.

Dream escapes prison with Technoblades help. A server wide man hunt comes for Dream but unlike his videos he had stolen the spare armour in the prison and so is pretty OP making it easier for him to put distance between his enemies and himself. 

Technoblade returns to the artic and him, Phil and Will come to an in pass, a slight disagreement. Philza whilst having sided with Dream before, knows he’s not a good guy. Only used him to help destroy lmanburg for his own morals. It was not because he agreed with Dream. In his eyes, he was using Dream for his own goals. Plus, now he’s seen the aftermath of Dream’s terror on the citizens he realises the man perhaps shouldn’t be set to run entirely free. This slightly goes against Techno’s beliefs but the main issue of tension between them is Technoblade willingly placing himself in danger when he didn’t need too and helping release the man who tortured Tommy and clearly has something going on with Ranboo thats bad. 

Wilbur is angry because Techno won’t say where Dream has gone due to an agreement between the two and Technoblade is a man of his word. Wilbur wishes to thank and meet the man who saved him. This also worries Philza because he’s worried he’ll revert back to the man he saw the day he blew up L’Manburg. Over all tension between the three

Niki and Wilbur finally meet and it is as heartbreaking as it is beautifully tragic. Wilbur apologises but misses the mark, misses what hurt her which hurts her more. There’s an explosion with their argument that leaves a stunned silence. Niki asks Wilbur to leave. He does so. 

This leads to a Wilbur and Ranboo conversation where Ranboo tries to reason with Wilbur about Niki’s side. Wilbur brushes it off because much like the blue counterpart we all miss, he’s not a fan of the negative emotion. He tries to focus on the business etc and let’s slip that Dream has escaped somehow. Ranboo leaves. Wilbur is confused but distracted by a confrontation with Quackity.

Ranboo then starts his stream and he’s in the fucking panic room and he’s panicking because there are signs so many signs and they don’t make sense. Theres lesson rules, asking about the missing journal and it’s like every issue he’s ever faced is staring right back at him because Ranboo has never really resolved any issue, just pushed and moved on. He’s tried but that usually failed and for a while he’s ignored all the issues and here they are in front of him, all at one. A big volcanic eruption of anxiety and stress, and it ain’t sitting with him. 

Dream appears. But is it really him? We never know because after a conflict and a back and fourth about everyone in Ranboo’s life eventually landing on a threat about Michael and Tubbo, he blacks out and the stream ends. 

Quackity is livid with everything thats happening, the careful empire he’s building is falling apart and he’s shifting the blame around from person to person. He manipulates everyone around them into believing this is somehow their own fault and that they must make it up to him because he has been nothing but kind and loving to them. He gave them a place, a roof on their head when they had nothing. He misses out the parts where he insulted and or destroyed their homes, but it works and his employee “family” become the main bounty hunters for Dream, with Bad and Ant tagging along since they’re guards. 

Now the streams relating to the manhunt displays everyones wants. They’re all doing this wanting something, and whilst it’s to gain Quackity’s favour back they’re all doing that for different reasons. Their motivations are somewhat different even if on the surface they are the same and so on the man hunts, because there will be many, this is slowly picked apart and through that the manipulation of Quackity is revealed and then we see a parrallel between Quackity and previous people in power where they start to get desperate to keep control over the thing they’ve created. Because that’s been one of (not the only) issues with every leader on the server, the control and their feeling of lack of, even if thats not truly the case. But you get these moments between all the characters where they’re trying to outwit one another, trying to figure it out without blatantly saying it. Maybe Foolish does. He’s a bit of a himbo. 

Ponk always said he’d leave the door open for Sam and I truly think something happens, whether it be a look in the mirror with one of his guards going too far with someone or a conversation with Quackity where Quackity holds the mirror up to Sam maliciously, that causes him to hit the rock bottom and just break and I want that breakdown in front of Ponk. And I want Ponk not necessarily to give him the second chance off the bat but give him that peace offering, give him that hand to pull him up. I want him to take Sam to Niki and explain to Niki we’ve done bad things in the past, this is a safe haven and I believe Sam needs help and a place he can truly feel safe and for a moment Sam does and this begins his raid to redemption in gaining back the trust of the people in his lives. He becomes Tubbo 2.0 spying on Quackity like Tubbo did for Wilbur, but maybe less... bad.

But what of the Fiances? Wellllll,. With Dream escaping him and George meet in secret. George confesses he doesn’t believe it’s real and for a long time has been struggling with reality. He misses the early days, misses when they’d just have fun. Dream says he was having fun and George says I wasn’t. Dream shows true regret for George but says its too late now, can’t change the past. George agrees. Dream asks him what he’s going to do and he simply replies with “Sleep” Ending stream. 

Sapanps stream is a lot more WE ARE GOING ON A DREAM HUNT WE’RE GOING TO CATCH A BIG ONE, I’M NOT SCARED. vibes. He’s gearing up, he’s suiting up and he’s saluting pets on the way. He made a promise and with everything else going on in his life, he’s ready to throw himself into a distraction. He tries to convince George to help him but he waves him off saying, what’s the point? and mumbles something about divine powers and dreams which Sapnap just shakes off. He tries to find Karl in Kinoko but instead comes across Quackity. They have a blow up about how They abandoned each other, both did wrong but neither see the other side of things and eventually he tells him to leave. Quackity says okay, and the place blows up. Foolish cries in the corner. All that heard work but the boss said so. Sapnap ends the whole thing saying at least he’s there for Karl and Quackity pauses and is like why? And Sapnap is all like you care. Just go, you’ve done enough damage, I can’t have you damaging him too. And after a little more but but but between the two, Quackity goes. Sapnap leaves the place to burn, going to find Dream and hopefully Karl on the way. 

Karls in space. That’s where his latest travels have taken him and where the other side decided was his time to visit. Here I see a Wizard in Oz scenario where solutions to some issues will be revealed for Karl in relation to the other side. When it comes to his Dream SMP stuff, he starts confusing names and people more and Sapnap is worried about him, considering keeping him in a safe place. The only place that survived was the library with Karls books. Karl says he’ll stay there. Thats where the answers are anyway. Sapnap is unsure and gets bad vibes but is distracted by a lead on Dream and agrees, he tells him he’ll be back soon. 

They don’t see each other for a long ass time 

I’m not sure on the egg stuff but I do feel Niki and Puffy should have a conversation about all the shit thats happened and Puffy trying to help Niki and vice versa. I feel like Puffy should reach out to Foolish and try and comprehend what the fuck is he doing with Quackity. They have a little argument but it comes to a point where Puffy realises she cannot shield Foolish from harm and that her son ,just make his own decisions. All she can do is guide him where she can and hope that when it comes down to it he will make the right choice. She hopes she didn’t fail this dependant like she did with Dream her duckling. Though only she sees it as failure. 

Jack and Niki finally talk. She goes searching for some things and comes to his new place, he tells her to fuck off and that he doesn’t need anyone. They all abandon him. Niki pretty much does the verbal equivalent of slap some sense into him as she and him discuss how he is not the centre of everything, how he is not the sun. She was hurting, and he didn’t bother, no instead they just fed off each others anger and once he couldn’t feed of her or anyone else he isolated himself. She tries to convince him there are better things in life, there are better ways to place your energy etc. A lot of healing talk with Jack being stubborn. Eventually Jack finds himself at the door of Quackity after sticking to stubbornness, not quite ready to heal and he becomes the next member of Las Nevadas. A big blow to Wilbur too. 

They finally destroy the egg with magic. I dunno how but either destroy or hatch. Either or would be great. Red comes out the thing and I want a gay ass villain please. Bring it Red. Let’s go. Invite him to the server, bring the fire, bring the plant power Red. He can be the villain that unites everyone in a begrudging way. Like they all hate each other but fine i guess we’ll team to stop Red and Ant. 

Skeppy’s dead. 

Tubbo and Ranboo have a fight but Ranboo says “Weren’t we enough?” and it’s in relation to him and Michael (this happens before panic room). Thats when Tubbo realises where the wires got crossed and he immediately rectifies it but explaining he’s happy with the two of them but he wanted a job, something to work towards. Family wise he’s got it all, he’s content with it all but he wanted a project and one that didn’t incite violence. Fun rivalry sure, but he’s done with violence, he’s doesn’t want to add to the nightmares he already has. He wants competition but not one that will put all he loves in danger. So they talk it out and Ranboo feels more confident and Tubbo asks him to tell him if he ever takes anything too far because he can get a little carried away sometimes. Ranboo agrees and then they have a cute playdate with Michael. Then Ranboo does the thing with Wilbur and ends up in panic room.

Tommy and Tubbo discuss everything and lay it all out on the table because Tommy doesn’t want to be on the other side again with Tubbo. Tubbo doesn’t understand why everyone is making such a big deal about his burger business and Tommy tries to explain the issues with Quackity and the level of intensity he’s seen with Wilbur but Tubbo just laughs it off. They eventually talk about Ranboo and Tommy relents saying he likes Ranboo although he does sometimes get jealous of how Tubbo seems to have it all. Tubbo tells Tommy of his nightmares and so does Tommy to Tubbo. They come to an understanding with each other and understand that no matter how long they go apart, there is always a space shaped to fit them perfectly in their lives for them. Tubbo and Tommy then go play some pranks. 

Wilbur is unhappy with the pranks and gives a lecture and they get into a fight. This leads to Wilbur talking man to man to Quackity. Theres some weird sexual tension. Once again they’re trying to outwit one another. That when we get to the crazy stuff. 

And here’s where I get crazy with my stuff. 

Ponk is digging in his lil cave when he accidentally breaks through to a random room buried deep underground. Tommy’s there trying to scam him out of something he has. Tubbo and Ranboo too. When they get to this room Ranboo thinking it’s the panic one and freaks out, but the others calm him down. Ponk thinking theres diamonds in the room storms ahead setting off some traps but surviving. Tubbo opens one of the chests and just says theres a bucket in there. Ponk pulls it out and says it has a named fish in it. 

You see where I’m going. 

They empty the bucket whilst asking what the fish is called. They are interrupted by a voice. It’s Sally. 

Dream had captured her and bound her to a bucket and put her in the chest and hid her from Wilbur. 

She has been released. She freaks out over how much time has past because for her nothing has changed at all. She thought it might have been a couple of hours or something since Dream pulled that prank on her but clearly not. 

They all catch up and the season ends with Sally and Wilbur meeting in front of Quackity, Dream in the shadows and Sally and Wilbur turning to see Fundy who just freaks the fuck out. 

Oh and just a side, Callahan is the last member of the syndicate and God of the server and is having fun playing with the mortals. 

And then I have the next season planned out and how I’d end the whole thing but like until then. This is it. Mid Season to finale. How I picture things happening. 

None of this will happen but isn’t it fun to imagine? 

[collisiondiscourse]

on the wonder duo (part 1)

(BNHA Analysis Post Ahead! This isn’t explicitly romantic, but it is an analysis of the relationship between the two most popular characters in BNHA--Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya. Split into two posts because I realized that this was gonna be long as HELL)

yall ever think about the fact that the wonder duo is perfectly set up in so that bakugou and deku together are the better version of all might?

bc like. ive been thinking.

everyone knows the win to save and save to win parallel. How they are supposedly two halves of a whole perfect hero (which, previously, was defined as all might)

but ever since bakugou and deku started working as one—growing together to win AND save and continuously reminding each other that they shouldnt try to do things alone, ive realized that its BECAUSE theres two of them that they surpass all might. its not a case of deku and bakugou both being 50% of an ideal hero, but rather i think that they are 100% of what all might SHOULD HAVE BEEN from the very beginning.

as early as the AM v AFO battle in kamino, we see the effects of all mights flawed existence. the fact that he, the greatest and supposedly infallible symbol of peace, was destroyed—society had begun to collapse. there was suddenly no pillar to hold people together and the impacts were so severe that even in the latest chapters of mha it keeps on getting worse. the truth is, all mights biggest mistake was the burden he placed on his own shoulders

with bakugou and deku... its different.

its different for them because down to their attributions, they seem like two halves of a whole person.

i think that the wonder duo are going to surpass all might because of the fact that they work together.

@bakugoukatsuki-rising @svpercraigus @tybee​ @isaustraliaathing​

(batshit crazy and conspiratorial essay under the cut !)

1. Complementary Colors

I’d like to first preface literally everything I say by the fact that I am not an expert analyzer or literary major in any way. I am literally just some random fan on the internet who has wayyy too much time and looks wayyy too deep into things, but here we go!

A common thing we see when we talk about bakugou and deku is the way they are... sort of an inverse of one another.

Down to the design of their features and the way they move, Deku is the obviously softer of the two. There’s an intentional contrast between the two of them, in the way that Deku’s drawn with round shapes and curvy hair and the way Bakugou is literally all spikes and half-mast eyes and rough muscles. Bakugou’s movements too are languid and showy, with the way he leans when he walks and splays his legs and kicks open doors. Katsuki, in a casual sense, is loud and dramatic. 

Deku on the other hand s finicky. He jitters when he walks and he’s often fidgeting and mumbling. Comparatively, the aura he radiates is energetic and frenzied, even self-conscious to a point unlike Bakugou’s calm and confident movements.

the point is, there’s a clear difference in how either of them are designed and what exactly they are supposed to represent. They utterly complement each other down to the way they behave and even their main colors (red-orange and blue-green) being literal complementary colors.

Now, moving to my more ungrounded points, this is quite a bit of a stretch so I’ll try as much as possible to make sense of these with hyperlinked sources because. yeah.

Down to their names, I think Deku and Bakugou both symbolize something deeper. I think that the way Hori expresses characters and what they’re meant to do is something that we have to pay close attention to when we talk about the Wonder Duo’s rise to success.

Izuku Midoriya (緑谷 出久), as some of us may know, does have an interesting meaning when broken up. According to a lovely fan translation of his name, ‘Izuku’--while not an actual name used commonly in real life--means to ‘Come out’ or ‘Long time’. ‘Midoriya’ on the other hand means (Midori) ‘Green’ and (ya) ‘valley’. The translator further pointed out that his first name ‘Izuku’ could be a reference to him being the first legendary hero to come out of the long-running All Might Era. (or, if you’ve been reading @/bakugoukatsuki-rising’s posts, the first significant anime protag in a long while to come out as queer, ppfft)

but that isn’t my focus right now.

We know that Hori LOVES telling stories with names, and more often than not in the BNHA universe, names alone tell us a lot of things about the characters. When referring to Izuku’s last name, Midoriya, it’s important I think to step back and realize that hey, maybe there’s something more to Green Valley than just the fact that his motif is all green.

After searching for a lil on the specifics of green valley, I’ve found out that across many cultures, the colour green and valleys in general tend to represent life. From dream analysts, to Christianity, and even old Taoist teachings, valleys are seen as areas of fertility and escape. They are seen as safe havens and often escapes for people to come to after running away from bad circumstances.

(Sound familiar?)

Deku, in essence represents life and peace. He represents being the “salvation” that the world in BNHA needed. To me, it sounds like Horikoshi is trying to say that he is the long-awaited hero in the sense. The one that people can feel will create a society that feels safe for everyone after years of All Might just saving people from themselves as a band-aid solution.

On the other hand, we have Katsuki Bakugou (爆豪 勝己), who’s name we commonly know means (Katsuki) Winner and (Bakugou) Explosion Master. He is essentially, the champion. The power. His name means success and power and all the things that make up winning.

When putting them side by side, it then becomes increasingly... interesting to me how their names almost perfectly slot into All Might’s save to win and win to save mantra, and how they are both quintessential parts to what made All Might as a hero.

2. Hero Too!

Now, I’m not even gonna really TOUCH much of what happens in canon. If you want me to do a step by step breakdown of their arcs in regards to the plot of manga and anime, feel free to send me a gratuitous ko-fi tip so I can pay for the headache I get after trying to organize my thoughts into word vomit.

What I WILL talk about on the other hand, is the subtle shift both of them slowly have in regards to how they look. Bakugou and Deku, while growing up, seem to have MANY many parallels--but before I elaborate on all of that, I wanna talk about something else.

Detour: Deku’s Red Shoes 

We all know the iconic symbol being Deku’s red shoes. For all his life, save for some outfits like his hero one, we see Deku more often than not wearing his signature red sneakers which have become a running joke in fandom.

But the funny thing is, in Japan, red shoes seem to have an interesting connotation.

In 1922, a popular Japanese nursery rhyme was written, called “Red Shoes”. The interesting part to me about this song was the symbolism that, in my tiny pea-sized brain, I could connect to the story of BNHA.

The story goes that there was a little girl with red shoes named ‘Kimi’. She was from Shizuoka prefecture (which, if you didn’t know, is most likely where Musutafu supposedly is) and was raised by a single mother. When she was young, her mother had to entrust her with a foreigner under the impression that they would give her a better life in America. The stranger is a man named Charles Hewitt (who was described to have blue eyes) and supposedly took her away. 

The singer of the song (supposedly the mother, but some argue it was written from the perspective of a childhood friend) believes that Kimi is happy and living a better life away from them, when the reality of the situation was much worse. The young girl with red shoes in actuality had Tuberculosis, and thus the foreigner whom she was entrusted to had left her to fend for herself and eventually left her to go to America while she died alone and orphaned.

“When I see red shoes, I think of her.”

A very interesting story with very interesting implications indeed.

-

Anyway, moving on to the more... “nuanced” and connected parts of this section, I have every reason to believe that Bakugou and Deku were simply MEANT to be working together down to how they dress. Now, I’d like to discuss their hero costumes.

At the start of their series, using these godawful pics for reference, it’s clear to see that neither of them seem alike in any way--reflecting the dissonance in their relationship at that point in canon.

ough. deku why. (yes we know why its because you love your mom you stupid little bunny <3)

Anyway, we see an immediate gap in how the two of them are. Deku’s first costume is one that reflects how he treated his dream of being a hero. He was still in that childlike idolization phase, the one where his dreams and aspirations were hinged on pure feelings and inspiration from All Might. Katsuki on the other hand was a lot more tactical--professional to an extent. The gap between their respective development with their quirks is something that is clearly felt in every fashion decision they’d made.

(Notice how Deku’s green is a lot brighter and less like the green accents Katsuki has all over his costume.)

As time progressed however... their costumes changed. The colors, the silhouettes, the practical functions, most things.

(Deku’s Gamma Costume and Bakugou’s Winter Costume used respectively)

we begin to notice a few similarities.

As the show goes on and we see more evolutions of their costumes, it almost seems like they begin to look like a matching pair. Deku’s green grows darker and almost teal in nature, while Bakugou’s orange is veering towards red territory. This is important to note because red-orange and blue-green as I said earlier were complementary colors as compared to simply orange and green. The minute shift is something I really wasn’t quite sure was intentional, but something I find interesting to pick up nonetheless as the colors they used to accent their costumes begin to match up.

Secondly, I think and important thing to note is silhouettes. The way that both Bakugou and Deku’s costumes are designed follow a lot of parallels that typically we don’t see with the rest of 1-A. For one, they both have a combination of tight long-sleeved tops with a bulkier set of bottoms. They also share the use of utility belts and metal pieces typically worn around their necks. Deku has his bunny-eared hood that mimics All Might’s hair, while Bakugou has his orange and black explosion ear-pieces that mimic his own quirk.

i don’t think any other people in class 1-A match each other as subtly yet strongly as these two. Uraraka and Deku and Bakugou and Kirishima do come close however.

“But Codi, you fucking knob!” I hear you plea. “This is such a reach and tells us practically NOTHING!” And yes, I’m inclined to agree with you! You’d be sort of right in the idea that this is a reach. Maybe I am looking too much into this, and maybe it really isn’t that deep--but I do think that them subconsciously matching outfits means something quite brilliant.

In the way that their costumes are designed, each aspect of either outfits have a very logical explanation. The changes were strategic and made with their fighting styles vividly in mind, so what that tells me is that BECAUSE these costumes are so complementary or similar in nature (Bakugou’s reinforcing his arms while Deku reinforces his legs), these two are implicitly showing the audience that their combat styles are complementary as well. 

The evolution of their design choices and similarities tell us that even unknowingly, their minds line up in strategy on the battlefield--a clear exhibit for why they would be INCREDIBLY POWERFUL as a Hero Duo to begin with.

When I look at their hero costumes side by side, I see a mirror. I see the way that these two are reflections of each other and are strong where the other isn’t. The point I see in BNHA repeatedly is that EVERYONE HAS A WEAKNESS. Nothing is infallible, regardless of how hard you train or how powerful your quirk is. Everyone will always have a weakness, but the significant difference I see when fandom discusses the future of Pro-Hero Society is that the new generation is finally raising itself to be RELIANT on each other. 

Observing their fighting styles and the simple use of their quirks, its obvious that they are indeed two parts of a whole hero. Bakugou, who’s quirk emphasized his arms and hands and the power that comes from it, while Deku who’s quirk now emphasizes his legs and lower body and the way he’s always running to save people.

IN CONCLUSION:

As they become heroes, it is easy to assume that if nothing else, Bakugou and Deku will cover each other’s weak spots (especially when you consider the way Deku probably won’t be able to keep using his arms with the way both the anime and manga are going...) (also chapter 285, anyone?)

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Part Two: Interactions, OfA

kofi || commission details